


Untethered

by entanglednow



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-15
Updated: 2009-12-15
Packaged: 2017-10-14 17:38:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/151770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entanglednow/pseuds/entanglednow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel had taught him how to draw more than one symbol in blood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Untethered

Castiel had taught him how to draw more than one symbol in blood.

Dean remembers this one in particular the angel had always told him not to try. But Dean's never been a big fan of doing what he'd been told, especially not when the whole world is coming apart and there are so many demons he can't see the doors any more. So he uses it. He grabs Sam's unconscious body and he draws it out in his brother's blood.

And it feels like he shatters into pieces.

...

  
The world seems a very long way away.

Someone's hand is dragging through his hair, fingers strangely uncertain where they touch the skin.

Dean's not surprised, since his skin currently doesn't feel like it's attached to him.

There's a voice on the edge of nothing. A voice he knows almost as well as Sam's, it's rough and too deep, a throb of vibration that goes all the way through his head

"Cas," he manages.

The hand slows, stills, and he moves - tries to move, limbs sluggish and uncooperative, like they haven't quite decided if they belong to him yet, and his vision cracks apart in a fuzz of colour.

Castiel's voice goes from far away to right next to his ear, and his hand is blissfully cold on Dean's forehead.

"Your stubbornness is not always a virtue Dean," he says quietly. Though there's something thick with relief in Castiel's voice, something new and shaky in the tone. "When I tell you something is unwise you should listen to me."

His hand is still pressed into Dean's skin, as if he's holding him together, and Dean thinks maybe he trusts Cas to do exactly that.

"I think I'll do that now," Dean says sluggishly.

He registers, almost absently, that he still has one arm curled around Sam, fingers almost numb where they dig in to his arm.

"Sam -"

"He's fine," Castiel says quietly. "Your brother is fine."

Dean relaxes, relaxes his hand and can't help sliding a little into Castiel's grip. When the angel lets go and takes Sam's weight from him Dean's strangely lost, anchorless, on his hands on the cold concrete, breathing sharp painful breaths and swaying.

He's not sure how long he stays there. Before Castiel is back, sliding a glass of water into his hand. He upends it straight away, one slow pour of liquid. It's cold and real and it burns all the way through him.

Castiel takes the glass, stays on his knees, hands strong and sure on Dean's arms, holding him until he can hold himself. Dean never realised how much he does that, without question, without thought. The way he's simply there, for anything, for everything.

If not for the things he's been teaching him Dean would be dead, they'd both be dead, worse than dead.

He catches the back of Castiel's neck, pulls him in and presses their foreheads together.

"Thanks, Cas."

"I did nothing," Castiel says quietly, and they're so close the words are almost breathed into his mouth.

"We'd never have gotten out of there if you hadn't taught me that."

"You underestimate your own ingenuity," Castiel's voice is soft and insistent.

Dean huffs a laugh and he blames the dizziness, blames the last minute run from death, blames everything for how he moves, just enough, just far enough to catch Castiel's mouth. It's barely a kiss, just a brief instant of pressure.

Castiel goes very still, breathes against him, and makes no move to pull away.


End file.
